


The Habits of Spiders

by Miellat_II



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Genre: Brooding, Driders, Drow, Drow Culture, Gender Hierarchical Culture, Mixed Media, Oviposition, Spiders, Trans Male Character, instructional
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2019-10-22 00:24:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17652527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miellat_II/pseuds/Miellat_II
Summary: Letters between two friends.





	1. Preface: An Excerpt from a Drowish Text

_Men with cunts are the most suitable for hosting eggs, as they are not sullied by the presence of testes, yet are male and so designed for service to their betters._

_Of these, I shall detail the advantages and flaws of each surface race in suitability._

_Orcish men may hold the most, but are not a suitable temperature, and must be kept in heated incubation chambers, and require more care due to the strain—they must remain hydrated, though they take to the egg-stasis well. Recommended only for very large clutches, thirty or more. Good strong layers, often willing, and I have never heard of them dying from it._

_Human men are a very versatile middle-ground—they run a touch too cold, but do not need to be heated as much as Orcs. They need to be stretched before laying, but will accommodate up to thirty eggs, if the laying is done slowly and carefully. Twenty is the recommended maximum, but training a human to thirty is very satisfying, and I have seen it done._

_Elvish men are the perfect temperature, but usually so small one must find at least two in order to get a full clutch suitably hosted. They adapt perfectly well to the stasis, do not need stretching, but it is this author’s opinion that elvish men are less suitable than human men, as they are small and difficult to catch, and never willing._

_Hobbits are a good and sturdy little people, and I have heard of one or two sisters using them as hosts, but they can only fit six at a time. Still, they are quite the best layers, and it is something special to have a little nest of them full of eggs, sleeping in a pile of curls and bellies._


	2. Letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Letters between two friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet another instance of 'I thought this was a one-shot but apparently SYKE it isn't'.

_Sylvy,_

_I have just unearthed this book in the Grand Library in Moria. The preface intrigues me—it implies there was once more contact between the surface and the neath. What do you think?_

_Mádry_

_~_

_Mádry,_

_What’s the book called and who wrote it?_

_Sylvy_

_~_

_Sylvy,_

_You are so terribly laconic, but I confess my crime of rabbiting on without identifying the book. It is Ilorek Ksil’ra’s Ón_ _Þe Hábyts úv Spídrs. It is a difficult read, being so old as to predate the standardised spelling we have now, but I am translating it for future readers._

_Mádry_

_~_

_Mádry,_

_The Old Letters always sounded the same way, like music. Ilorek was one of the first of the Hybrids, the book is likely about the complex way you have to brood—yes, you can brood, don’t believe what the Elves tell you in the clinic I know you go to. You aren’t a shoat._

_Hobbitish transmen aren’t hard to find, I know at least one who would be interested in brooding, and he’d probably have friends. Shall I ask?_

_Sylvy_

_~_

_Sylvy,_

_I am not certain I want to have children, but the importance of this text surviving the Brightening is starting to dawn on me. It’s a real treasure, isn’t it? The whole library’s mostly been picked over and of course you know we have the Stories and the Fables and the Holy Maths. But to find something like this… I have shown the Greatmother, and she has agreed with you, Sylvy, that I ought destroy my translations; but she also said I ought to make a copy on Everskin, so that it won’t be lost forever. _

_Can you imagine if the Hybrids could brood again? We could begin the Great Joining and repopulate!_

_Mádry_

_~_

_Mádry,_

_Outbreeding the Lighters is all we can do, until the Hybrids are strong enough even, perhaps a dozen generations of careful brooding from now, to rise against them. Remember the old saying, strike we not the first, but always the last? Live by it. Let the elves treat you, but don’t talk about the book. _

_My friend Elkwood says he’s very interested in helping you brood, and there’s a few trustworthy cousins he has that can help with it. One of them is a Baggins, so you know that means you’ll be taken care of._

_Sylvy_

_~_

_Sylvy,_

_SINCE WHEN DO YOU KNOW A BAGGINS????_

_Mádry_

_~_

_Mádry,_

_I don’t. Elkwood does, and I know Elkwood. Do keep up._

_Sylvy_

_~_

_Sylvy,_

_Oh you absolute whip, you know what I mean. _

_The book has the most helpful diagrams, and references the Great Triad. Ilorek was the Great Queen’s mother! I am beside myself, this is all written with an air that I am not deficient in any way, nor is my body Struggling. Why do I yet feel so ill and very much need my medicine, then?_

_Mádry_

_~_

_Máds,_

_Don’t stop taking your medicine, you do need it._

_I cannot say as to why you are Struggling, though my more suspicious nature wants to say the clinicians are conspiring against us; but you know where such talk leads—nowhere useful but everywhere miserable. Just… treat what they say with some scepticism, especially if they start talk about infertility. They know lighted well infertility isn’t a problem, they just don’t understand how eggs work, that’s all._

_As you know, I go to an elf doctor, myself. They have the knowledge, but you have to understand the institutional arachnophobia. We don’t talk to them about fertility, especially if we have eight legs. I know this seems patronising but I know you also live in a really elfy area and don’t really hang out with Spidren much._

_Sylvy_

_~_

_Sylvy,_

_I dislike very much when you get hateful toward elves; but I do respect your wisdom and experience. I have been reading more of the book, and found a few more in some kind of cache that was behind quite a clever hidden door; they have the history of the Third Age! The Greatmother has hidden them away of course, but her sons are starting to make a printed edition!_

_I am arranging to come visit soon, if you can have me; I should very much like to meet Elkwood, and his Baggins friend!_

_Mádry_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lighters - pejorative name for Eldar, used by the nocturnal races. 
> 
> Whip - sassy; witty; smart; fresh. Used admiringly. 
> 
> Shoat - a hybrid between a sheep and a goat. Usually sterile.


End file.
